(c) bestchance Training 2009 CHCQM601A Manage an Accreditation System Week 1 History and Overview Julie Carmel

(c) bestchance Training 2009

CHCQM601AManage an Accreditation System

Week 1History and Overview

Julie Carmel


History

• As part of his 1986-87 budget speech the then Prime Minister Robert (Bob) Hawke stated that by 1990- “No Australian Child will live in Poverty… as part of this my government is committed to the introduction into Australia’s Child Care industry an accreditation system that has at its heart the improvement and introduction of standards of all Child care centres across this great land.”


History cont• In 1990 as a lead up to the Federal election

Prime Minister Hawke, again to up the issue of Child Care accreditation.

• He stated; “parents are entitled to be confident

they are getting quality attention for their kids whether they are using Government or commercial centres. So we will work with all key interests in child care to develop a system of accreditation”


History cont

• From this the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System was developed and introduced in1993.

the impetus for the development of the QIAS is explained in the following adaptation from the QIAS Handbook (1st edition, 1993).


•“A recognition of the importance of quality child care has been developing

in Australia for more than a decade. Where once viewed as a worthwhile

way to amuse children for a few hours per week while introducing them

to the routines they would encounter at school, the importance of

quality child care for children has gained increasing respect.”’

Three major factors led to a change of attitude towards child care and

provided an impetus for the development of the Child Care

Quality Assurance (CCQA) systems for Australian children’s services. •First, the general understanding of the significance of the early

childhood period, with its full agenda of physical, intellectual, social and

emotional development has greatly increased. It is now widely accepted that

we learn more in the first five years of life than in any other five-year period.


•Second, the number of Australian children being cared

for outside their homes has increased damatically and

continues to do so.

This increase correlates to the growth in the number of

families in which both parents are working or,

in the case of sole parents, where the parent is working.•Third, the average amount of time an individual child spends

in care has grown enormously.

A child can spend up to 12,500 hours in child care before

starting school: that’s only 500 hours less than the child will

spend in lessons during the whole 13 years of schooling.”


“If quality is to be assured, a service providing

care for children must have a strong system of

regulation, accreditation and accountability”

(Elliot, 2001).


Concept/ Purpose

Seen as an opportunity to provide child care services, staff and families with standards against

which quality could be measured. The accompanying rationale was that with

increasing numbers of children spending large parts of their lives in child care, there ought to be

some mechanism for quality assurance. The process of accreditation was designed to assist

services to implement strategies to improve the quality of care they were providing for children.


Crawford Committee

Established in June 1990 to research a range of possible accreditation option for

Australia

The committee recommended that the best model was to set up an independent

national body, that represented all interested early childhood bodies.


Establishment of Accreditation System

1991

At first called the Interim National Accreditation Council (INAC)

Dealt with Long Day Care Centres

November recommendation that receipt of Child care Benefits be linked to accreditation to give the process

validation ( only country in world to do so)


1993

Both political parties make commitment to continue Accreditation…political agenda

National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) founded in March


1996 The Liberal Government commits to accreditation of Family Day Care (FDCQA)

(Implemented in 2001)

2003 includes Outside School Hours Care

(OSHCQA)

Accreditation now an integral part of Federal policy


the role of NCAC to: set the standards for child care and the measurement of the

standards determine the Accreditation status of child care services provide advice and reports to the Minister about the

participation of child care services in the CCQA systems maintain a formal register of child care services participating

in the CCQA systems, and their Accreditation status regularly review the operation of the CCQA systems


Defining Quality Care

The CCQA systems are distinct from licensing regulations.

to develop a standard of quality beyond the minimum requirements described by licensing regulations, which include staff qualifications,

group size and child-staff ratios. Accreditation goes beyond these standards “to address the components that determine quality”

(Mellor and Coombe, 1994). It shifts the focus from meeting minimum physical

standards to striving towards the highest level of care.


The fundamental role of NCAC since its inception in 1993 has been to define the parameters by which the

standards of quality care may be defined and applied to children’s services in Australia.

The ultimate aim of the CCQA systems is to ensure that children in care have stimulating, positive experiences

and interactions that nurture all aspects of their development.


A further benefit of the CCQA systems is that they encourage the accountability of

services to parents looking at best practice care for their children (Tansey, 1997).


the three CCQA systems follows five steps to

quality care: 1. Registration

2. Self-study and Continuing Improvement

3. Validation

4. Moderation

5. Accreditation Decision


CCQA encourages the collective participation of management, staff, families and children, working together to ensure positive outcomes for children.

Through sharing information, consulting broadly and addressing the concerns of all involved, the CCQA

systems engender a sense of ownership of and commitment to CCQA in child care

(Stonehouse,1997).


1993 trial system was introduced and 50 centres across Australia participated and

gave feed back…64 principles

This was later refined to 52 principles

1994- 4,200 child care centres were participating in QIAS


These we further reduced to 10 overarching Quality areas with 35

principles.

2005 further refinement was made and the overarching principles were reduced to 7 and standards for Good Quality were

added, giving 3 levels of quality.


Standards of Quality

Satisfactory

Good

High


Ongoing Refinement

In May 2006 saw the introduction of changes to the QIAS system to ensure ongoing quality:

- Unannounced Validation Visits (6 week time frame)

- Unannounced spot checks commenced October 2006

- Non peer validators employees of NCAC

- Integrated systems;- equity across long day care, family day care and Out of School care


Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process

On 21 October 2009, at the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC) Annual General Meeting, Board Chairperson June McLoughlin announced two significant changes to the Child Care Quality Assurance systems administered by NCAC. From 1 November 2009: • All Validations Visits will take place on a set date, scheduled in advance by NCAC, and • Validation Surveys for families will no longer be distributed as part of the Accreditation process. In making these changes, NCAC has considered feedback from the child care profession. Ms McLoughlin stated that “NCAC is delighted to implement changes that recognise the need for professional dialogue between services and Validators, as well as being able to remove a substantial administrative burden for services.” These changes are supported by the Government because they are in line with the reforms being developed as part of the new quality agenda. They are also recommended in the Productivity Commission’s Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business released in September 2009. Change to Validation Visits Previously, Validation Visits were unannounced and services were advised of a six week timeframe but not the date(s) of the Validation Visit. Ms McLoughlin said, “By providing the Validation Visit date, services can ensure that the director or other key staff members are present to meet with the Validator.”


“Media Release - Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process Page 2 of 2 Families remain an important partner in the Child Care Quality Assurance systems and these changes will not restrict opportunities for families to provide feedback about the quality of care provided at their child care service. A new online poll has been placed on the NCAC website to gather feedback from families searching for child care. This will be expanded upon to solicit more feedback in the future. NCAC will be communicating these changes directly to all child care services. For more information visit www.ncac.gov.au. 21 October 2009 Background Information NCAC administers three Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) systems: ● Quality Improvement and Accreditation System for long day care centres ● Family Day Care Quality Assurance for family day care schemes ● Outside School Hours Care Quality Assurance for outside school hours care services NCAC Media contact: Elizabeth Robinson, 02 8260 1900


Knowing the Validation Visit date will also help services when planning staff leave,

professional development and other major events.”

“Evidence from Spot Checks suggests that most services maintain the standard required for

accreditation between Visits, indicating that there is no longer the need for two

unannounced Visits to services” advised Ms McLoughlin.

Unannounced Spot Checks will continue to play a vital role in Child Care Quality Assurance.

Accredited child care services are randomly selected to undergo unannounced Spot

Checks which could occur at any time.

Removal of the Family Surveys

“Services have been responsible for copying, distributing and collecting surveys to families as

part of the accreditation process.” said Ms McLoughlin.

“Removing this administrative process for services will save time and resources

that can be better spent communicating with families, planning for children

and providing quality child care.”


Removal of the Family Surveys

“Services have been responsible for copying, distributing and collecting surveys to families as part of the accreditation process.” said Ms McLoughlin.

“Removing this administrative process for services will save time and resources

that can be better spent communicating with families, planning for children and providing quality child care.”

Media Release - Significant Changes to the Accreditation Process Page 2 of 2

Families remain an important partner in the Child Care Quality Assurance systems and these changes will not restrict opportunities for families to provide feedback

about the quality of care provided at their child care service.

A new online poll has been placed on the NCAC website to gather feedback from families searching for child care. This will be expanded upon to solicit more

feedback in the future.

NCAC will be communicating these changes directly to all child care services.


Steps in the Child Care Quality Assurance Process

participating in Child Care Quality Assurance (CCQA) are

required to achieve and maintain the quality standards required

for Accreditation as outlined in the Quality Practices Guide, and

progress through the 5 step process.


The 5 Steps.

1. Registration

2. Self-study and Continuing Improvement

3. Validation

4. Moderation

5. Accreditation Decision


Registration

A child care service must register with NCAC to participate and make satisfactory progress in Child Care Quality Assurance if it wants to receive Australian Child Care Benefit (CCB) payments on behalf of

families. Registration and participation requirements are specified in the Child

Care Benefit (Eligibility of Child Care Services for Approval and Continued Approval) Determination 2000 made under A New Tax

System (Family Assistance) Administration Act 1999.


Registration Fees

Initial or New Service Registration…$311.80

Annual Registration Fee… $172.40

Change of Registration… $140.90

Photocopy of Self-study Report ..$22.00

Photocopy of Validation Report … $20.00

Copies of certificates or decisions … $22.00


Self Study and Continual Improvement

Self-study is a process whereby the service’s child care and management practices are

reflected on, evaluated, improved, maintained and monitored.

This includes children’s experiences, interactions, record keeping, professional development, policies and procedures.

During self-study, feedback about the service’s practices is gained from child care professionals, families, management, and

where appropriate, children. self-study process?


Validation Surveys

Families are encouraged to complete surveys and return to centre

These are an important part of the accreditation process and it is expected that 5% of surveys are returned with self

study report.


Validation

This is when a Validator visits a service to observe practices, view documentation and ask questions to determine whether the information

gathered during the Visit represents typical practice.

The Validator documents this Visit in the Validation Report.

During the Visit the Validator validates the typical practices in the service as occurring or not

Occurring.


Moderation

Moderation helps to ensure that all services participating in Child Care

Quality Assurance are treated fairly and consistently. The process considers the

service as a whole and identifies patterns of quality care.


Moderation Cont

Moderators assess the quality of the service’s practice by analysing the information provided

in the Self-study Report, Validation Report, Validation Surveys and, if submitted,

Validation Evaluation Form. A Moderator will then:

provides a rating of the service’s practices for each Principle

develops a Continuing Improvement Guide which is written information to assist the

service in planning for future improvements to its quality practices.


Accreditation Decision

Accreditation Decision is the final step in the Child Care Quality Assurance

process. The outcome of this step is the service’s Accreditation Decision, which is a statement regarding whether or not the service has met the required quality standards of care outlined in the Quality

Practices Guide.


Accreditation decision…

NCAC is responsible for the final Accreditation Decision for each service participating in Child Care Quality Assurance.

The Accreditation Decision is not made by one person. It is determined directly from the service’s composite Quality Profile which is compiled by

calculating the combined ratings from the service’s Self-study Report, Validation Surveys, Validation Report and Moderation Ratings.

The Accreditation Decision will state that the service is either Accredited or Not Accredited.

An Accredited service has achieved a rating of Satisfactory or higher in all of the Quality Areas of the specific Child Care Quality Assurance system.


What happens if centre isn’t accredited?

The service has been rated Unsatisfactory on one or more of the Quality Areas in the Quality Practices Guide.

This is illustrated in the service’s composite Quality Profile.

NCAC uses the composite Quality Profile to determine the service’s Accreditation Decision. The profile reflects the

Summary of Ratings from the service’s Self-study Report, Validation Surveys, Validation Report and the

Moderator.


What can the service do if it does not agree with the Accreditation Decision?

Apply to have the decision reviewed by the Accreditation Decision Review Committee.

The Committee will refer to:

the written information from a service outlining its evidence in support of a review

all of the documentation used by NCAC to make the decision.


If appeal decision is upheld!Centre’s are given the opportunity to rectify

any areas that they have not been accredited.

Centre’s have 6 months to comply to standards and undertake the whole process again

Centre’s are re accredited by another validator and are treated as if a normal validation

If fail again centre’s cannot re appeal and cannot apply accreditation for 3 years

Loose Child Care Rebate!



Documents

(c) bestchance Training 2009 CHCQM601A Manage an Accreditation System Week 1 History and Overview Julie Carmel